Dr. Nitin Sonawane has been a photo-journalist for the past thirty five years. Over this period, he has brought light to various social causes like through his photography and writing. His work has been carried across various mediums like newspapers, exhibitions and social media.
Some of his titles which are close to his heart include: 1) Life in Mumbai’s Death Traps. 2) Children of Melghat. 3) Creative Eye behind the Lens. 4) Quake Disaster in Gujarat. 5) Nagapanchmi at Shirala. 6) From Darkness to Light – Surviving HIV. 7) Ray of Hope – Dr. Lahane. 8) 25 years, 25 Frames.
Nitin believes in helping people around him through his photography. His years of work capturing the issue of malnourishment among underprivileged children at Jawhar in Thane helped raise a funding of Rs 15 crore from Dorf Ketal Chemicals India. The funds were used to provide nutritious meals as well as to for recruiting teachers and developing digital classrooms at Dabheri, a school for underprivileged children. The funds were routed through Navdrushti, an NGO. Through his photography, Nitin he also helped rehabilitate people living near the railway tracks in Mumbai. As many as 17,000 families received free apartment house as part of the rehabilitation project.
Dr. Nitin Sonawane completed his doctoral research in July 2021. The topic of his research was “Photography is an effective medium for reviewing facts. Special Reference: Biographies of Ten Folk Artists from Photographs”. He worked on this subject for 17 years.
Awards and Recognition
Nitin has won 3 international awards and 49 national awards.
Late Tolaram Kukreja Photography Lifetime Award for 2020 from Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh.
Shivneri Bhushan award from CM Devendra Fadnavis at Junnar in 2019.
The Late T. K. Sarmalkar Smruti Award from Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh for writings on
socially oriented subjects in January 2008.
The Late Tolaram Kukreja Photography Award for 2006 and 2007 by the Maharashtra Government.
His pictures were selected for a permanent exhibit at the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan in 2001 and 2005.
Second Place at Nikon International Photography Contest, Japan in 2003.
Second place in the Arts and Entertainment category Mumbai Press Photo Contest organized by the Press Club, Mumbai in 2003.
Images selected in the Press Club calendar, Mumbai Moments 2004, 2006 and 2007.
First place in annual photo-contest organised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2005. Several prizes at the monthly competitions organised by the Photographic Society of India in 2000 to 2005.
First place in Thane Municipal Corporation photography contest in 2001.
